A Murder In Haste
by TappinCastlefan
Summary: It's just their luck that murder has no sense of convenience.  Sequel to "The Fast Track To Us".
1. Prologue

As nervous as Kate Beckett had been two hours ago was about how relaxed she was now. Two hours ago she was flying frantically around her apartment, gathering up clothes previously banished to the floor and wiping counters covered in dust, all while trying to calm herself down and get ready for her date.

Date.

Now she was walking through the Metropolitan Museum of Art – on a date. With Richard Castle.

Richard Castle. A man who made her want to drive her car into a wall and hug him at the same time.

Talk about insane.

"I love this one!" She exclaimed with a smile, pulling him towards the painting.

"Funny."

"Why?" There was a hint of irritation in her voice. She hated being questioned – and yet, she had no pity for the victims of her interrogations.

"I just didn't think of this to be something you'd love, is all" he responded, shoving his hands into his coat pockets. Little did she know that he was just as nervous now as she was two hours ago. "I thought you'd be more into the Greek or Roman art. I don't really know why, you just…seem like it."

"What, Castle? You think I'd have a thing for gladiators and chariot races? Sure I like a good fight, but that's just ruthless."

He laughed softly at her as she spoke. Not for a second did her eyes break away from the painting she was looking at.

"Besides, I've always been a sucker for French art. Especially Degas." She was currently absorbed in _The Dance Class_ – only one of his many depictions of dancers. She stepped back away from the wall, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "You know when I was little my mom put me in dance class? And I absolutely hated it until I saw this painting. I had to be maybe eight or nine when she brought home a book of his paintings from the library."

Rick could hear her voice drifting back in time. He moved up to her left side, gently wrapping his first two fingers around her pinky.

"I must have sat in my room for hours staring at that book. After that I wanted to be just like the girls in his paintings. So graceful and perfect." Slowly she had leaned into his chest, shifting so that she was encircled in his arms.

He tenderly pressed his cheek against the side of her head, and let himself get lost in the scent of cherries.

"You are perfect," he whispered in her ear.

She turned around in his grasp to return the sentiment. But, unfortunately, just as her fingers brushed his hairline her phone started vibrating in her pocket.

Before his eyes finished blinking she was out of his embrace and pacing in front of the Degas.

"Beckett."

Silence coated the room as she listened to the call.

"Alright," she sighed, "you got an address for me?"

Rick couldn't help but be as equally excited by both aspects of her personality. The Detective and the Woman. The cop and the art lover.

Beckett and Kate.

"No, no. I'm fine. I'll be there in twenty minutes."

He was addicted.

"Thanks Esposito."

She slid her phone shut and walked back over to where he was standing against a wall.

"You know you really shouldn't lean on walls. It's disrespectful."

"To who?" He whined. "There's no one here." It was true. There was hardly anyone else in the museum. They hadn't done it intentionally, but thankfully there were very few people around to speculate about them.

Instead of answering his argument she simply reached up and draped her wrists over the space between his neck and shoulders.

"I'm sorry, but there's been a murder." Unlike before, she now stared right at him. She really did feel guilty about having to leave. "Apparently murderers don't think I should get a night off. And I was really enjoying myself, too."

Rick grabbed her by her waist and pulled her closer. "I was too. But hey," he said perking up, "all the more excuse for me to take you out again."

Kate smiled at his logic as she broke away. She really was having a wonderful night. Too bad people didn't consider her plans when they committed a murder. Thankfully, what she was wearing wasn't too far off from what she would normally wear to a crime scene. Just a little bit nicer pair of pants and blouse, and, of course, her red trench coat that she knew Rick liked so much.

"We have to go." Her arms were still resting on his.

"Don't you want to leave first? So we don't, uh, get there at the same time?"

"No." She said with a smile. "I don't really mind." His eyes widened at her statement. That came straight out of left field. He knew that she didn't want anyone to know about them. Them. He liked the sound of that. So, he assumed that she wouldn't want them to arrive at a crime scene together.

Especially when they were technically coming from a date.

He had gotten so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice she had made her way out of the section they were in.

"You comin'?" She called over her shoulder.

Rick jumped at the question without a second's thought. In moments he was following his date out into the New York air, and hailing a cab to take them off.

"Don't you need to stop back at your place? Get your badge or something? Your gun?" He questioned as she cabbie the address of the murder.

"Oh, Castle," She responded with dry humor, "when are you going to learn that I always," she stressed, "Carry my gun."

* * *

**Woo hoo! Everything's all planned out for this! I hope you liked the prologue! Would you believe that I already have 90% of the first chapter written, too? Shocking, isn't it? **

**No suprise here: Everything you know belongs to Mr. Marlowe and ABC.**

**Let me know what you think! I'm so excited to see where this goes!**

**Tappin.  
****:-D**


	2. Chapter 1

"And you're absolutely sure that you want me to get out with you?" Castle asked for the twentieth time in their ten-minute cab ride.

"Castle! I told you, it's fine. Would you just relax? You'd think I was taking you to meet my father or something." She slumped down in the seat and folded her arms across her chest. "You see them everyday, why are you so tense?"

Sighing he slumped down as well. "I don't know. I just know how the boys can be."

"Well who do you have to blame for making them like that?" She retorted with a laugh.

Rick merely turned his head and rolled his eyes at her. They felt the small jolt as the cab pulled to a stop. Without waiting for his reaction, Kate popped the door open and turned into Detective Beckett, her shadow following loyally behind.

The two walked through the lobby of a rather expensive looking apartment building, and rode the elevator up to unit 10F. The door was open, crime scene tape draped across it. She could hear the voices of her boys up and down the hall.

Walking through the high-class apartment, Kate found Lanie bent over the victim, who was bent over his desk, in the office off of the living area.

"What've you got for me Lanie?" Kate called as she approached. She barely turned her head as Castle began to roam the rest of the office.

"Adult male, approximately thirty-five to forty. Judging from the look of his skull and the condition of that lamp over there, I'd say cause of death's blunt-force trauma."

"Time of death?"

"Probably early to mid evening, not after about eight-thirty or so. I can get you a more exact window once I get him back to the lab." For the first time since the Detective arrived Lanie looked up from her subject. "Well don't you look lovely tonight?" She exclaimed.

Kate's pen froze where it was, lifting the edge of a file off the desktop. She covered up her shock as best she could by wrinkling her eyebrows together.

"Oh, don't give me that look, now. You're wearing far too much make up for nine o'clock on a Friday night if you were home reading a book. Speaking of books…" she trailed off, nodding in Castle's direction, who appeared to have found something.

"Beckett. Take a look at these."

She walked over to where he was, pointing to the underside of an armchair. There she saw a pair of black, patent leather stilettos. They looked as if they had been kicked out of sight in haste.

"Hmm, looks like our vic wasn't alone recently. Hey Lanie," she turned to find her friend in the process of stepping away from the body, "where are Ryan and Esposito?"

"Right here Beckett." Esposito said, as he and his partner entered the room.

"Thought it would be good to try and catch the neighbors before it got too much later." Ryan concluded.

"Good idea," Rick added, "people who live in a place like this probably don't want to be disturbed at night." As he spoke he played with a set of Newton Balls perched on a bookshelf.

"And what did you find out?" Beckett asked, pulling his hands away from the structure.

Ryan sighed as he pulled a sheet of paper from the bottom of a small stack. "Our boy is Dr. Richard Mercer. Professor of criminology at NYU. Cleaning lady, Margie Simon, comes in at about eight-forty, eight forty-five and finds him."

Castle turned from watching the still ticking Newton Balls with a puzzled look on his face. "Who has a cleaning lady come in the middle of the night?"

With a playful glare Esposito read from his own page of notes. Beckett toured the room as he reported. " Miss Simon said, and I quote 'Mr. Mercer likes to wake up to a clean house.'"

He paused, as Castle rolled his eyes. "You know I hate guys like that. So picky and full of themselves."

The other four pairs of eyes in the room stopped what they were doing and stared at him.

"What?" He called, slapping his arms to his sides.

Esposito laughed, continuing with his report. "A few of the neighbors in the adjacent units said that they heard two men shouting both in the early afternoon, then again in the evening, but not a one can say if it was the same two guys, and no one saw anyone coming in or out."

"Alright, see if you can pull anything from security cameras. A place like this is going to have a whole system." As she directed she leaned in to look at a half-full wine glass sitting on the edge of the desk. "Get this back to the lab too. Could be something in with the wine."

"Got it," Lanie said, directing a uniform to gather pieces of evidence.

"Okay, well, there's no sense in getting our hands dirty this late. Just get him back to the morgue and we'll start with fresh eyes in the morning." Kate watched as Lanie walked out with the body, a smug grin on her face. She rolled her eyes and turned back to the boys.

"In the morning I want to be able to contact the family. If you could get that information for me by the time I come in?"

"You got it Beckett." Both men gave her a mock salute as the left the unit.

"Well, Detective," Rick started once they were absolutely alone, "what say we continue our date?"

"At," she looked down at her father's watch, "nine-twenty?"

"Yea," he said matter-of-factly, "why not? I'm hungry, and I'm sure you are too."

Tapping her foot softly against the wood floor she contemplated the choice. True, she was hungry. They had had dinner before going to the museum but now that was three hours ago. Had they really wandered the museum for two? She was so absorbed in the art and in him that she didn't notice.

"Um…sure. That sounds nice."

"Excellent!" He declared, rubbing his hands together in excitement. "My place it is then!"

"Your place?" Her face pulled together with confusion. "Why?"

"Well, like you said," he talked as they walked out of the apartment and down to hail another cab, "it's late, and no one wants a big heavy meal sitting in their stomach right before bed." He held the door open for her as she got in, and waited for him to give the driver his address. "So, there's no other option but a good, old-fashioned, ice cream sundae."

"Hmm. Guess I can't argue with that logic, now can I, Castle?"

"No, you most certainly cannot."

She laughed as she leaned into the crook between the seat and the door. Her body was angled so that she could watch him. He always found a way to make her laugh.

"Well sundaes sound amazing right now," she said through a smile, "but there better be gummy bears." She pointed demandingly at him from across the bench.

Rick's hand shot to his chest in shock. "Why, Detective! You insult me. By now you should know that I know you better then you think I know you."

"You wanna try saying that five times fast?"

"Not a chance." He flashed her a sly grin just as the cab pulled up in front of his building.

Taking her hand, he helped her out of the car. Never loosing their hold on the other, the two entered the building, hearts set on enjoying some ice cream and time away from death.

* * *

**This is the fastest update ever for me! Yay! I hope I'll be able to keep this going fairly quickly. All the chapters are outlines, so I know which are going to deal with what. But don't stone me if it doesn't happen, please! Pinky promise I'm gonna try and work fast. **

**Yup, you guessed it! It doesn't belong to me.**

**Thanks for reading! **

**Tappin.**


	3. Chapter 2

As was typical of Detective Kate Beckett, she arrived at the twelfth precinct bright and early – nearly beating the sun to the day. The elevator doors split, revealing her usual view of the precinct in the morning. A view of very few people.

But, like she knew they would be, her boys were diligently working away…sort of.

Ryan was leaning on the desk, the phone cradled to his ear, a pen and pad in his hands. Esposito was tapping his face with his fingers as he lounged in his chair, waiting for his out-of-date computer to boot up.

"You think I should ask Castle to donate some technology from this century? Or at least help me put this miserable excuse for efficiency out of its misery? It's dying a very slow and painful death."

Detective Ryan barely looked up at his partner's complaining.

"Oh stop whining Esposito," Beckett sighed as she approached, "you just don't know how to handle a machine like this." She motioned to the washing machine they called a computer in a Vanna White style.

"And how would that be?" He questioned with not-so-subtle sarcasm.

"Simple." He watched as she perched herself over the unit, placing one hand firmly on the top, biting her lip in concentration. She adjusted her feet so that her left was slightly closer to the desk than the right, and bent her knees for balance.

And before he could process exactly what his boss was doing, she had pulled her free hand back away from her body and sent it flying back, packing quite a smack to the back of the computer.

Within a matter of seconds the screen flashed and the system's desktop appeared.

"See," she chirped as she brushed her hands together, "you just don't have the right touch."

Esposito watched as she sauntered back to her desk and opened his mouth to ask just exactly how she did that when his partner piped in.

"Hey, Beckett!" He called as he put down the phone and jumped over to her desk, "got the information you wanted."

"Glad to see someone's taking their job seriously." Her only response was a series of unintelligible syllables coming from Esposito as she waved angrily at his computer. She threw him a grin before asking Ryan to continue with what he found.

"Mercer's got a mother and a brother. Carolynn and Samuel. Both are on their way in to talk to you now."

"Thanks, Ryan. If-"

"Oh, that's not it" he said with a smirk. "Got a wife too. Rachel Mercer."

"Well, where is she?"

"That's the thing. I've got her on an Italian vacation. Her flight left last night, one hour after the approximate time of death."

"Alright, well get Montgomery to make some calls. I want to see if we can get her back here. Something about the timing of her trip seems a little fishy." She had started to speak faster as she shuffled papers around her desk. "Did you pull his financials?"

She looked up to see Ryan innocently shaking his head in objection, and raised her eyebrow in question at the silent Detective two desks away.

"Hey," he defended, raising his hands in the air, "that's what I was _trying_ to do when you walked in and instilled some corporal punishment into my computer!"

"You're just mad you couldn't fix it yourself." Ryan retorted, flopping down in his own chair.

Without further argument the boys returned to their work. Ryan hunting down the victim's missing wife, Esposito getting his financial information. And Kate stood to update the thin list of information on the murder board.

Minutes went by in silence as the trio stuck to their agendas. Kate was the only one still left in the bullpen at the moment, and was so into what she was doing that she didn't even notice the man who got off the elevator.

Although, the smell of fresh coffee penetrated every wall of her concentration.

She spun around on her heels as Rick stepped over to her desk, with, thank goodness, coffee.

"I swear you have radar for this stuff!" He exclaimed.

As was to be expected, she fought back her laughter by biting her lip.

"Seriously, you would think all that I'm good for is satisfying your unnatural need for coffee."

"Well, Castle, it certainly is a benefit of having to put up with your shenanigans day after day."

"Shenanigans? Who says that?"

"I do." She tried her best to sound offended, but the smile somehow managed to surface. "You got a problem with that?"

Rick was having just as hard of a time trying to contain his grin. Luckily, he didn't care as much as her about fighting it off.

Just as the two finally agreed with themselves to enjoy a laugh at the moment they were caught.

"Is everything…okay here?" Kevin Ryan inquired, pointing at Beckett and Castle.

Castle quickly turned away from him and huffed a fake cough into his fist. Kate, however, quite suddenly stifled her pleasure and readjusted her focus.

"Yeah…yes. What've you got?"

"The, uh, vic's mother and brother are here."

"Oh, good." Kate closed the marker she was using and returned the file and coffee cup she was holding to her desk before walking to where the two were seated - Castle following dutifully behind.

She sat directly across from Carolynn Mercer, the victim's mother, whose hand was being tenderly stroked by her living son, Samuel. She was a woman dressed for tea with the girls, in a pale blue skirt-suit, a thin string of pearls around her neck and her silver hair pulled back in a stylish wrap. Her son was dressed far more causally, in a pair of blue jeans and a grey polo.

Gently she leaned over, resting her arms on her knees, lowered her voice to a near whisper, and in the blink of an eye she had changed yet again, speaking with a calm and caring tone. Certainly not the one she used with him or Ryan and Esposito, Castle thought.

"Mrs. Mercer, I know this is difficult," she started out as delicately as possible, "but I need you to try and remember if your son said anything out of the ordinary to you. Was there someone he was angry with? Or was he frustrated with his students? Anything at all could be helpful."

The woman lifted a shaking hand up to wipe tears away from her face. "No," was all she was able to get out before bursting into hysterics again.

"'No' what? Mrs. Mercer? No, he wasn't angry, or no, he didn't say anything?"

"You'll have to excuse my mother Detective," Samuel Mercer said. "It's very hard to believe that Richie's gone. We just had family dinner the other night. Everything seemed perfectly fine. I was supposed to have lunch with him today."

"Was his wife with him?" Castle asked, "At dinner?"

"Yea," he said before blowing out a long breath. "Rachel was with him. She always is."

"Did she say anything out of character? Or seem upset?"

Samuel rubbed the back of his head. "No! No. She was perfectly Rachel. Always is. You can't possibly think she had anything to do with this? She's the sweetest woman I know!"

"Mr. Mercer," Kate pressed, "we have to consider everything. Where were you last night between five and eight o'clock last night?"

"Jeez," he mumbled, "I…I was attending the musical at the high school I teach at. _Damn Yankees_. You see, I have quite a few students in the show and they asked me to come and see them."

"Thank you, Mr. Mercer."

"Sam, please. Only my students call me Mr. Mercer."

"Thank you, Sam. Mrs. Mercer is there anything, anything at all that you can think of that might help?"

Kate looked on with wide eyes as the older woman continued to blubber into her son's shoulder. Clearly, they were going nowhere.

Sighing the two thanked mother and son for their time, and returned to the bullpen, Kate sitting at her desk, Castle taking up his place at its side.

"Well that went well." Castle said cheekily. "I don't think even my mother could be that dramatic."

Refusing to give into his ruse Kate merely eyed him as he spoke, turning again at the sound of Esposito's feet.

"Seems that our guy was pretty clean. Nothing out of the ordinary except for his biweekly payments to a motel downtown."

"Sounds promising, you got an address?"

"Right here." Not willing to risk any more embarrassment for one day Esposito took a post-it off the top of his file and handed it over before high-tailing back to the sanctuary of his own desk.

"Looks like we're taking a little field trip. You ready to go Castle?" Before she had fully rotated her chair he was on his feet and grabbing her coat off the back of her chair.

"Oh, Detective, when am I not ready to go?" He earned himself an eye roll with that one as they stepped down the corridor and into the elevator.

* * *

**I know! I know! I promised quick! And I apologize, I don't even really have a good reason. All I can say is I really hope you like this chapter. Not a lot of Castle/Beckett moments, but hey they're not perfect. Personally I love the Beckett/Ryan/Esposito dynamic. It's one of my favorite parts of these characters. **

**We all know I don't own it. **

**So, thank you for reading! Let me know what you think of it!**

**Tappin.  
****:-D**


	4. Chapter 3

"You know, I find this whole case really creepy."

Kate quickly glanced over at him as she navigated the car into a slot in front of the motel.

"Oh, really? How so?"

"Well," Rick sighed, "I mean, the guy's name is Richard." He waited for a response, but all he got was her 'what's wrong with you' stare. "You're telling me you don't find it the least bit weird that the victim's name is Richard, and _my_ name is Richard."

"As far as I know, Castle, we've got a dead guy named Richard Mercer, and if you're having an identity crisis about that," she paused for them both to finish getting out of the car, "well, that's just too bad." She gave him a complementary head nod as she pushed the door shut before walking towards the building.

"That was harsh, Detective."

She called over her shoulder, "Not my fault you've got a sensitive ego."

The only response he could think of would be to just shut up and follow her in. She really was something, he thought, he was purposely keeping his mouth shut for her. Although there was still one matter he had yet to address.

He leaned an elbow on the information desk as soon as he reached it, watching her take her badge out of her pocket.

"Can I ring the bell?"

"What?" She scrunched her eyebrows together.

"Ring the bell. That's what you're supposed to do in these places. You know, ring the bell for service."

"Sure, Castle," she huffed, "knock yourself out."

Words couldn't describe the grin on his face as he rubbed his hands together to tap the desk bell. They waited for a moment before he motioned to hit it again. Her hand however, darted out, grabbing his before he could.

"One's enough." Again he exercised some control and pinched his lips shut.

"You know, we need to make up for last night?" She only turned her head slightly, waiting for him to continue. "We never really got to have a full date. I mean, we technically did everything we said we were going to do, but there was that whole…" he twirled his hand in the air, "…murder business in the middle."

"I, yea, uh…sure. Can we just, wait until this case is over?"

"Fine, but at least come have dinner at my place. We can-"

"Excuse me, but can I help you?" Thank goodness for managers, Kate thought.

"Yes," she said, flashing her badge, "Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. I was wondering if you recognize this man?" She pulled the victim's picture out of her bag and slapped it on the counter.

"Sure, that's uh," the manager, a short, stocky man with a pitiful tuft of black hair on his head, took a step back, gazing off into space through his glasses, snapping his fingers as if it they could conjure up the answer for him, "Ricky. Ricky M."

"That's what I wanted to hear Mr.?"

"Levy. Joseph Levy."

"Thank you Mr. Levy. Did this man come in here often?"

"Oh sure." He droned, picking up the picture. "Two, maybe three times a week. Always with the same girl."

"A girl? What girl?"

"Just some pretty little thing. Sometime she'd come before him, sometimes after. Mostly came together, though. But always the same girl. And it sure doesn't take in idiot to figure out what they were doing here."

Kate felt Castle shift beside her so that he was leaning over the countertop.

"Do you happen to have her name?"

"No," the man said as he stooped behind the counter, "but I can get you her picture. Got security cameras for the front desk and the back door to my office."

"That would be great."

Ten minutes later the two were back in the car. Castle studying the stills of the girl Mercer went to the motel with, Beckett on the phone. She turned to face him after hanging up.

"That was Ryan. He says our guy's got a Records Administrator at the school that should be able to tell us his schedule."

"Doesn't look like the slutty mistress type."

Once the car was turned on and some air was flowing through the vehicle Kate leaned over to examine the pictures.

"I didn't know 'slutty mistress' was a type."

"Absolutely. You've got your slutty mistresses, high maintenance mistresses, easy to please, yet not so slutty mistresses-"

"And when did you become such an authority figure on affairs?"

"Well if you remember correctly my first wife had an affair. But aside from that it's just general knowledge of men who run in my particular circle of friends."

"Ah, yes." She turned back to pull out of the lot. Not without noticing the mildly offended look on his face.

"Now what is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, Castle. Just remembering that I come after a long line of women."

"Maybe so, but none of them can hold a candle to you."

Since they were alone she let herself show him a smile. Moments like these made her remember why she was, she couldn't believe it, dating him. Or, at least starting to date him.

"Seriously, I don't think some of them would be smart enough not to get burned. And Meredith would have too many shopping bags in her hands." She rolled her eyes, shaking her head, at his attempt to make her laugh.

"And that's supposed to be a compliment. In retrospect it probably didn't sound like one, did it?"

And his attempt succeeded. She couldn't help but laugh at his mini-panic.

"Thanks, Rick. Really."

They pulled up to the correct building at the university, and walked up a rather extensive flight of stairs to Mercer's records administrator's desk.

A very sturdy woman sat behind a sleek black desk. Her long strawberry blonde hair was tossed lazily over her shoulder; her head was bent over the desk in a frantic effort to move files from the right side of the desk to the left.

"Excuse me? Miss, Baines?"

"Yes?" The woman barely looked up from what she was doing.

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett. I need to ask you a few questions about Richard Mercer."

"Oh, yes. Absolutely. Anything. I can't believe he's gone. He was such a wonderful teacher. His students loved him."

"Can you explain his schedule to me, please? We're trying to develop an idea of what his day would've been like before he was murdered."

"Um, let me see." She pulled out a desk calendar from underneath the stack of folders. "Yesterday was Friday, so he would have been in lecture from ten forty to twelve thirty-five, three to four fifty, and five ten to six. He always taught one, one block class on Fridays so that he could get home earlier. He always had open office hours until about six forty-five, but occasionally he would stay late to work or help specific students."

She sighed as she returned the calendar to its place. "He was always busy. If he wasn't here he was working at home. I'd get emails from two or three in the morning with information that needed to get to his students."

"Tell me," Beckett said, reaching into her notebook, "do you happen to recognize this girl?"

"Well, yes. That's Lindsey. Lindsey Hurst. She's his TA."

"TA?"

"Yea. Teaching Assistant. She sat through his lectures, collected papers, dealt with students when he was busy. She was here with him after hours for work a lot too."

"And not only work." Castle muttered under his breath. Kate stomped on his foot to shut him up.

"She's so smart. Wants to go into criminal psychology. And always so helpful. I, uh…I think she's here if you want me to call her up?"

"That would be perfect, thank you very much."

"Sure if you would just go into that conference room right over there," she said pointing to a door to their left, "I'll send her in when she comes up."

Kate nodded and led Castle into the room. They only had to wait for about two minutes before a young, tan, brunette walked in. She had the face of a child. Studying her, Kate couldn't piece together how she could've possibly ended up being Richard Mercer's mistress.

"Mrs. Baines said that you needed to speak to me?"

"Yes Miss Hurst. If you could just have a seat?"

"Sure."

"Miss Hurst, I'm Detective Kate Beckett. I'm a homicide detective."

Within seconds she saw the tears flood into the girls eyes.

"Yea," her voice quivered, "I…I know. You're here about what happened to Rick. It's just so terrible. To think that something like that could happen to him, it's just…" her voice trailed off as she was reduced to sobs. "I'm sorry. I really should try to be more helpful."

"Miss Hurst could you tell me about your relationship with Mr. Mercer?"

"We know you were going to the motel with him." Castle added from his place against the wall.

"Yes. Well, um…it's a little awkward to say this, but Rick and I were…seeing each other."

"How often were you seeing each other?"

"For the past few of months. We'd go to the motel a couple of times, like you said, but he'd be real sweet too." She rested her hands on the top of the conference table and started fiddling with her fingernails, ashamed to look the detective in the eyes. "He'd take me out to lunch, or to breakfast. Sometimes dinner, when his wife was out of town. I know he was married. I know it was wrong. But he was just such a great guy."

Kate could tell that she was having a hard time with this. After all she was, what? Twenty? Maybe twenty-one?

"He said he was going to take me away for the weekend. I have a bag packed in the trunk of my car. He snagged me between lectures to tell me to meet him here early this morning, but he never showed. I just assumed that his wife had stopped him. But when he didn't show up today I started to worry. Then Mrs. Baines told me what happened. I just – can't believe it."

Rick couldn't get over how bizarre this guy was. "You're saying that he was a college professor who worked on Saturdays?"

Kate shot him an irritated side-glance.

"Yea, he liked to come in on Saturdays to review his lessons for the next week, and work on grading papers and tests. That's why I'm here. He usually has me doing the grunt work."

Castle _had_ to restrain himself. That would have been way too easy.

"Thank you, Lindsey, for your time. You might want to take the rest of the day off. Collect yourself. Spend some time with your family."

"Thank you Detective. I hope you find out who did this."

"You're welcome," she said as she stood, Castle leading the way to the door, "and I will."

"Wow." Rick exclaimed as the headed back to the desk. "All I can say is if my daughter was sleeping with her professor, and she better not even joke about something like that, "I'd be mad enough to kill him."

"We'll run his name, but something tells me that's not the case. Don't you think if her father were out for blood he would've gotten to Mercer months ago? And killing him in his house? That's pretty risky. Call it a hunch, but I don't think he's the one we're looking for."

Rick disappointedly shrugged behind her back as she walked back up to the desk.

"Mrs. Baines? I'm sorry to bother you again but I just have one last question."

The woman was quite a bit more relaxed now than she did ten minutes ago. Kate would attribute that to the glass of wine that miraculously appeared on her desk.

"Whatever you need Detective. Ask away."

"Was there anyone who was angry with Mr. Mercer recently? You said his students loved him, but maybe a colleague?"

"Oh no! His colleagues loved him more than his students did! There was one student a couple of weeks ago, though. Jeremy Mitchell? Yes, that's his name. He was upset with Mr. Mercer over a grade on a paper. He made quite a scene. We nearly called security, but when Mr. Mercer explained that he was just getting himself into more trouble he agreed to leave."

"Do you have his address?"

"Yes, I have all of that information on the students." Quickly she pulled up a window on her computer, and wrote down the information.

"Thank you Mrs. Baines. We'll be in touch."

"Sounds like everyone's favorite professor _wasn't_ everyone's favorite." Castle remarked as they got back in the car.

"We'll just have to see about that now won't we?" She pulled out her phone as she sat, and instructed the boys to bring Mr. Jeremy Mitchell in for questioning.

"I love it when you get all bad cop on me!" He squealed as she turned on the engine, and pulled out to go back to the precinct.

"Shut up, Castle."

* * *

**Wow. So I really don't know what to write, except for thank you to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. Sorry if I haven't responded, but I have a lot of little projects going on. It's totally new for me to be writing a murder investigation, so I've tried to throw in some little moments, and banter. If there are any particular lines you like or don't like, let me know so I have an idea of what works or doesn't.**

**You know I don't own it. :-(**

**Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!**

**Tappin.**


	5. Chapter 4

By the time they had returned to the precinct Kate and Rick had buried themselves in their own thoughts. Rick was certain that Kate was thinking about the case, as they stepped into the elevator, he, however, was thinking about other things.

"You know," he finally spoke up, "I never got to finish what I was saying earlier."

She peered over from where she stood, leaning against the corner of the box, giving him a 'look'.

"Before the motel manager interrupted?" He returned her gaze from his corner. "I was going to say, we can have dinner at my place one night. I can cook dinner, we can watch a movie. Just you, me, and Alexis. No pressure. And hey," he cocked his head with Glee, "if you're lucky my mother might even join us."

She could help but to let out a giggle. She thought it was adorable when he complained about Martha. It didn't take an idiot to figure out that he really did love her.

"I'll even let you and Alexis pick the movie. But I'm warning you, she's a Trekkie."

"Why is it I feel like you're not too happy about that?"

"Because it's annoying!"

"Really?" She shifted so she was leaning against the wall on her shoulder, legs and arms crossed. "I kind of thought you'd be the Star Trek fan."

"I am, it's just that…I prefer the original. The show! Who doesn't love Shatner?"

"I don't know Castle," Kate said as she shook her head, "that Chris Pine? He's certainly easy on the eyes."

"Pft," he blew out, "are you seriously telling me-"

Her laughter cut him off. "God, Castle. You're so easy." He stared at her in shock, looking close enough, one could see his eye twitch. "But yes," she resumed, stepping closer to him, taking his hand in hers, "that sounds nice. Tomorrow?"

Rick stuttered out a sound just as the elevator signaled their arrival at the morgue. "Sure. Six o'clock good for you?"

The doors opened up to show those distinctive white walls.

"Perfect," she whispered. And in a blink she was out. Detective Beckett once more, hunting down a killer.

They stepped into the familiar lab, finding Lanie scribbling away in a file.

"Got the goods on your boy here," she said, indicating the body lying on the table with her pen.

Kate shoved her hands into her coat pockets and stepped over beside the body.

"And?"

"Well first of all, the cause of death was definitely inflicted by the desk lamp." She nodded over to the counter where said lamp lay, caked in blood and broken skin, in an evidence bag. "The skull is shattered around the area of impact."

"What about the wine glass? Anything in it?"

"Aside from the wine, the glass was clean. But I did find traces of Donormyl in his system. It's a non-prescription drug used for insomnia relief. Strongest one available without doctor's permission. One dose can induce sleep within thirty minutes, and maintain a sleep state for up to seven hours. And considering the fact that there was at least double the recommended dose in his blood stream, I'd say he was out cold."

Kate had begun to pace around the table like she so often did when she was listening to the medical examiner's report.

"He probably didn't even know what hit him."

"No pun intended right?" Castle piped in. He received death stares from both women in return.

"Bad news is there aren't any prints."

"Fantastic. Did you get a time of death?"

"I'd have to say between seven and eight-thirty."

"These the contents of his pockets?" Kate had already donned a pair of rubber gloves to examine the wallet, but felt the need to ask anyway.

"Yup." Lanie had taken to completing the report she was working on when they walked in. Although she didn't fail to miss the fact that while Kate was sifting through the wallet, Castle was leaning, a little too close, over her shoulder.

"Typical stuff in here. ID, credit card. A lottery ticket. About forty dollars, cash."

"Ooh, what's that?" Castle asked pointing at a slip of paper poking out from one of the card slot.

Carefully, she plucked the note out and unfolded it. The handwriting was sloppy, and the smeared ink certainly didn't help.

_I know what you're up to. You will fix it, or pay._

"Sounds like a threat." Rick said, taking a step back.

"It certainly does. How much you want to bet it's from a certain disgruntled student?"

"Oh, I'm always up for a gamble, Detective."

Remembering that Lanie was still in the room Kate pulled her lips tight together.

"Hey, Castle?" Lanie asked, with an air of uncertainty. "Would you mind running up to grab me a cup of coffee? I could use a little pick-me-up."

"Not at all doctor! Anything for you, Detective?" One look at her face and he could tell he had asked a stupid question. What could he say? She made him do stupid things. "Be right back."

The two watched in silence as he exited through the metal doors.

"Alright, what's going on?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Seriously? We're gonna play this game again? Why can't you just tell me? It would save so much time."

"Lanie, it's a long story."

"Well, if I'm right, and I think I am, writer-boy won't be gone for long so get talking."

"Why don't you just come over to my place later? That'll be easier."

"Oh, no you're just being mean. But something must be really good for you to just offer that up."

Kate pulled out her phone as it started vibrating. "If I don't tell you you'll never leave me alone. I don't exactly have a choice." She turned away to answer. "Beckett."

"Damn right you don't have a choice." Her friend pivoted around at the comment, staring her down. Which was only mirrored right back.

Just as she hung up Castle flew in with two steaming cups of coffee in his hand. She took hers from him before he passed the other to Lanie, and began to walk out the door. "Let's go Castle. The kid's here."

And just like she knew he would he skipped right into step behind her, following her down the hall.

"Eight o'clock?" Lanie called.

"Sounds good." Kate threw back.

"What was that about?" Rick asked after they had gotten into the elevator…again.

Kate sighed. "I think we've been had."

* * *

Rick loved watching the way Kate handled an interrogation. He remembered what it was like being on the other side, and knew that she must have had the rail-thin, white-as-snow, twenty year old college student shaking in his Converse.

He watched from the metal chair across from the table as she plowed a ditch in the floor behind Jeremy Mitchell.

"Mr. Mitchell you've dug quite a little hole for yourself. Threatening a college professor? And I see from your school record that this isn't the first time you've lost your temper with the staff. Just a month ago you were taken off of probation for a borderline assault charge by your English professor. Nearly expelled weren't you?"

"That was…a complicated situation. And I went to the anger management classes. If I didn't I would've been kicked out. And my scholarship fund would've rejected me."

"What about Dr. Mercer? He made you angry didn't he?"

She had taken her seat across from her subject as he knocked his knuckles nervously against the steel tabletop.

"What happened Jeremy?"

Rick was sure that he could see the beads of sweat rolling down the boy's face.

"He…he was abusing his power. Doing things a man like him shouldn't be doing?"

"What kind of things?" She had pulled out a pen and flipped open her notebook to a clean page. Ready for whatever he threw at her.

"Like, paying extra attention to his female students. Even though he was married. Probably has something going with the TA too. She was always real clingy, you know?"

She simply nodded as she wrote down a few words on the page.

"The girls always got better grades. No matter how hard we worked, none of us guys could get anything above a B on our papers. Not that the girls are stupid Detective, but neither are the guys. And he wasn't real good about being subtle."

Adding a sound of acknowledgement, Kate reached into the back of the notebook and pulled out an evidence bag – containing the threat.

"Tell me Mr. Mitchell," she slid the bag across the table, "did you write this to Dr. Mercer?"

"Yea. I'm not gonna lie. I did. I told you I knew what he was up to and I was going to go to the University with the information."

"Jeremy, did you go over to confront him? Did you get angry again?"

He stayed silent. She could see in his eyes that he was petrified. He may have had a good story, but he seemed all too convinced that there was no other side. She saw how his eyes darted around the room. Between her and Castle. And she could practically smell the nervousness radiating from him – and she would use that against him.

"Jeremy, you need to tell me what happened." She stressed the importance by stabbing the notebook with the tip of her pen.

"I…I. Look. I went over to his place. His address isn't hard to find. The phone book, you know? And I told him. I knew he was playing around with someone. Some girl. And all the guys knew he was giving them special treatment with grades. I told him that if he didn't change his act I was gonna report him."

"Did you argue?"

"Sure. A little. We yelled. He yelled at me to back off if I ever wanted any chance of making it at the university. I yelled right back at him. It just wasn't fair, you know?"

Tears had started streaming down the boy's face. Faint tears, but tears just the same.

"Jeremy," she whispered now, "did you put something in his wine? Did you hit him?"

"What?" He squeaked through a strained voice. "No! I was angry but I wouldn't hurt him! Did something happen to Dr. Mercer?"

Kate drew in a breath and folded her hands in front of her. "Jeremy, Dr. Mercer was murdered last night. What time did you go over to his apartment?"

"I don't know," he shook, "maybe six thirty? I followed him straight home from his office."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes! I'm telling you Detective, I may have been pissed but when I left his place, Dr. Mercer was alive."

* * *

Kate blew out an enormous breath as she closed the door to the interrogation room behind her. Running a hand threw her hair she turned to look at Rick.

"I hate to say it," he said, "but I don't think it's him."

"And why do you 'hate to say it'?" She asked.

"Same reason I always have. It would've been a good story. Angry student goes on a killing spree."

They began to walk back to her desk, flopping down in their respective chairs when they got there.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a spree. Only one victim."

Just as he opened his mouth Detective Ryan walked up.

"Beckett. The wife's on her way home. And sounded pretty peeved about it, might I add."

"I have no doubt that she's peeved, but I don't really care."

"The thing is she won't land until three AM. You'll have to wait until tomorrow."

"Well great, now I'm peeved. Tell you what," she leaned back in her chair, scrubbing her face with her hands, "make it Monday. I want her wide-awake when I talk to her. And it wouldn't hurt for her to stew about her vacation being cut short either. Tell Esposito we'll take the day off tomorrow, clear our heads. Besides," she added, "I know how much you enjoy those lazy Sunday mornings."

Ryan gave her a slightly annoyed look before turning back to find his partner.

"What about you, Detective? Got any plans for your Sunday?"

"Having memory trouble, Castle? I thought we had a movie date." She smiled playfully at him as she stood to grab her bag and coat.

"Oh, I remember perfectly. I was just making sure you didn't forget." The two merely shot little glances at each other as they made their way out of the precinct. "What are you up to tonight?"

"Don't get any ideas Kitten. I've got to go on Lanie-patrol."

He watched, mouth agape, as she started walking down the street.

"I thought we agreed you weren't gonna call me that anymore!" He called after her. Much to his dismay, she just kept walking.

* * *

**Yay! My first interrogation scene ever! I hope it's authentic Beckett. And if you've seen the Comic Con info, you'd recognize my little shout out to Molly Quinn. I felt that it fit so well here too. Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to update for a few days - I have a couple of friends coming to visit me. But I think you'll like the next bit.**

**Thank you so much to all you awesome readers! Seriously! You're amazing! **

**No change here: it belongs to ABC.**

**Thanks again for reading! Let me know what you tink!**

**Tappin.**


	6. Chapter 5

The very first thing Kate did when she walked into her apartment was toe off her boots. Then, remembering that Lanie was coming over, she picked them up to toss them in her closet.

This was crazy; she thought as she peeled off her jacket, everything was crazy. It was like someone decided it would be fun to take the life she knew and turn it upside down. If anything, some higher being decided that throwing Richard Castle her way would be entertaining.

And hell, she was enjoying having him in her life.

She checked her watch, noticed that it was seven thirty. She knew Lanie, and she knew that the anticipation of her explanation would have her here early. How early was hard to judge, but it would definitely be before the agreed eight o'clock. Quickly she shrugged into a pair of black sweatpants and a grey tank. She slipped her cell phone into her pocket and pulled her currently wavy hair back into a ponytail.

In a matter of minutes she was stepping barefoot across her apartment, headed for the kitchen to pull out the bottle of wine she knew she'd need. If she had to tell Lanie all the not-so-dirty details she'd need some help relaxing.

She called it, she thought, rolling her eyes. At seven forty-three she heard Lanie open her door. Kate had decided it would be wise to give someone she trusted a spare key to her place, because, she had learned from her job, you never knew.

"I was wondering what took you so long." Kate said as she poured two glasses full of the ruby red liquid. She heard Lanie pass through the foyer, and drop her stuff on the couch in the next room.

"Well, I thought I should at least allow you some time to yourself before turning the interrogation table around."

Kate tiptoed out from her kitchen, handing her friend a glass. "How kind of you."

"I try." Lanie said, tilting her head with confidence. "So…?" She let the word hang in the air as she joined Kate on the couch. They took up opposite positions, with their legs folded and one arm leaning on the back of the couch as they looked at each other.

"What do you want to know?" Kate took a sip from her glass as calmly as if she had just asked about the weather.

"You know, sometimes I think Ryan and Esposito, but you really do now how to inflict torture."

The detective laughed quietly as her friend stared her down. She couldn't help but mess with her – everyone knew how much Lanie loved good gossip.

"Well," she started tracing the rim of her glass with her index finger, "it's really nothing huge. I don't know why you're so determined to find out."

"And I don't know why you're so determined to keep me from finding out. If it's nothing huge what's the big deal about telling me?"

"Because you're you!"

"And?"

"And? And when I tell you you're going to completely over-react, and pester me about it."

"Fine." Lanie said, setting her glass on the coffee table, "I promise I will try to keep my mouth shut until you finish."

"And?"

"And?" She threw her hands in the air. "I will not pester you about it."

"Yea, and pigs can fly," she scoffed.

"Will you just get on with it?"

"Ok." Kate sighed and placed her glass beside Lanie's on the small table in front of them. "Well I agreed to go out on a date with Castle." She turned her head from looking at the table to Lanie. "What no comment? I'm shocked."

"I told you I was going to let you finish. So finish!"

She pulled her feet closer, getting more comfortable. "He took me to the Met, after dinner, and we wandered for what must have been two, two and a half hours. It was…really nice. We were having a really great time until Mercer had to go and get killed."

"Hold up! This was last night?"

"I thought you were letting me finish?"

"Sorry, sorry. It's a tough habit to break.

"Anyway, we left the museum to go to the crime scene, and after that we went back to his place for ice cream."

"Ice cream?"

"Ice cream, yeah." After noticing Lanie's confused look she picked up her glass again. "And we have a, uh..." gingerly, she took a sip, "movie date with Alexis tomorrow night."

She looked over to find Lanie staring intently. Almost as if she was trying to see through to her soul. It was creepier than having Castle staring at her.

"That's it?" Lanie asked.

"That's it."

"You mean to tell me that you've been all smiley about art and a movie? That's it?"

"Yup. Why do you sound so disappointed?" Lanie pinched the edge of her mouth in irritation. "You know Lanie, not everything's about sex."

"Are you kidding me girl! Of course everything's about sex. Not just physically but mentally. You've been way too happy since we went speed dating for it to just be about art and a movie."

"Lanie, I'm telling you, that's all we've done. He wants to take me out again to make up for last night. But I told him to wait until this case was wrapped up." She paused to take another sip from the now near-empty glass of wine. "So he decided to talk me into having a movie night tomorrow with him and Alexis. He's cooking dinner for me."

"Ooh, writer-boy can cook! Sounds like a pretty good deal to me."

"Yea," she sighed, "and I really am enjoying this. I mean, like I said, it's not down-and-dirty like you seem to think it should be, but he's really sweet and charming. He knows when to leave me alone, too, and for me that means a lot."

Lanie stood and stretched, taking their two glasses into the kitchen. She knew this was going to happen eventually. And when she saw Kate leave the speed-dating gig with him, she knew it would be sooner rather than later. She chuckled to herself as she rinsed the glasses out in the sink.

"I knew it. I just knew it." She muttered when Kate finally strolled in to join her.

"Knew what?" Kate laughed.

"I knew you and Castle were gonna get together. It was just a matter of time." She shook her head as she placed the glasses on a towel to dry.

"Oh, please." Kate rolled her eyes, but she knew that Lanie was right. It was inevitable; even she had known it – deep down. "You're just mad that you lost the pool."

"Kate!" Lanie jumped back in mock shock. "I'm insulted that you would think that of me." She paused at the lift in Kate's eyebrows. "Besides," she turned back to the counter to dry her hands on a towel, "who says I lost?"

Kate smiled as she watched her friend exit the kitchen and gather her belongings. Like she said – this was crazy. She sighed and leaned her elbows against the edge of the counter.

"Look Kate," Lanie placed her hand on her girl's arm, she loved Kate like a sister and damned if she wasn't going to try to protect her, "I'm glad that you're happy, I really am. Just remember, we've got your back. Who better to hide a body than a couple of cops and a medical examiner?"

The two laughed as they walked to the door, arm in arm. "Thanks Lanie. Really."

"Forget about it." Lanie smiled, "And have fun tomorrow night!"

"Oh don't worry," she replied, leaning on her door, watching Lanie head to the elevator, "I'm sure I will."

As soon as Lanie was safely in the elevator Kate shut and locked her door. She headed straight for bed, curling up with her cell phone in hand. All lights were off, except for the small white beam emitting from the phone.

Yawning, she slid open to the keypad, and entered the number. With slow fingers she typed, and hit the send button.

Across town Castle picked up his vibrating phone, smiling at the ID. Beckett. What a way to end his day. He unlocked the screen and opened the message.

_Can't wait for tomorrow night. Hope your cooking lives up to your writing. Should I be worried?_

He grinned at her little jab. Before turning out his own light he typed his response, hoping she'd get it before she fell asleep.

His wish came true when she read, and fought the urge to roll her eyes.

_Not at all Detective. Perhaps you should be worried that you'll like my cooking more? Until tomorrow._

_

* * *

_

Sunday morning and afternoon went by as slow as a snail for both Kate and Rick. From their respective apartments, they each eyed the clock as if their lives depended on it. Everything seemed to work in slow motion.

Six o'clock just couldn't come fast enough.

Finally, it was five thirty, and Kate was getting dressed. She opted for jeans and a dark purple, v-neck t-shirt. Tonight, she decided after finishing her makeup, she was leaving her hair down. Something in her gut told her that Rick had a weakness for it that way.

She pulled on her coat, and at five forty-seven was walking out of her building and to the Castle loft.

Rick and Alexis had been running around all afternoon collecting supplies. He had decided to make a four-cheese pasta. It was perfect for their plans. The three of them could easily take heaping portions and park themselves in front of the screen. Besides, he thought, it was the perfect introduction to his cooking skills – his meals would only get more extravagant from here.

He had decided that ice cream sundaes, though he and Alexis were fine with it, could be too much for Kate…for now. Instead, he had made a double chocolate cheesecake. Next to ice cream, chocolate was a staple of his life.

Alexis offered to clean, and arranged a mountain of pillows and blankets in the living room for their viewing comfort. Both took their fastest showers on record before getting dressed for the evening, and each could tell that the other was unusually excited for a movie.

So, when they heard the knock on their door at two minutes to six, they only allowed a millisecond of hesitation before jumping to the door. Rick climbed over a nearby tower of pillows, barreling to the door, but his daughter, however, was younger…and faster.

Kate was nervously examining the doorframe when it opened to a smiling face.

"Alexis!" Had her voice shaken? She couldn't tell. "Hi!"

"Kate! Come in! I am so excited, you have no idea!" It had taken every ounce of Alexis' self-control to keep from tackling the detective with a hug.

By the time Kate was through the door Rick was standing mere feet away. He refused to hold in the smile she induced. Luckily for him, she seemed to feel the same way.

"May I take your coat, Detective?"

Brushing her hair over her shoulder, she slipped her coat off. "Why so serious, Castle?"

"I could ask you the same question Kate." He responded as he hung her coat in a small closet. He turned back to find her leaning against a chair, her hand fisted against her face – she was staring. "I thought you said staring was creepy?"

"I believe I said staring at me doing paperwork was creepy. There was no mentioning of me staring at you hanging up a coat."

He let out a sigh of a laugh as he approached. She felt his arms slide around her, and let her body lean in, her head resting beneath his chin.

"Thank you," she whispered, "for doing this. I needed the break."

Rick pulled his head back, looking into her eyes. He would have been perfectly content to stay this way forever. Unfortunately, there was a dish of pasta in the oven and a cheesecake in the fridge just waiting to be eaten.

"Anytime Kate. Anytime. But you know," he started as their arms dropped to each others waists during their walk to the kitchen, "I still reserve the right to fully make up for our interrupted evening."

"And here I thought when I heard 'reserve the right' that you were going to say 'to remain silent,' but then again I might have to rush you to the emergency room if that were the case."

Alexis laughed at the two laughing adults as they walked into the kitchen. She liked seeing the both of them this happy.

"Come on, Dad! I'm starving!"

"I have to say Rick," Kate scooted onto a bar stool, "it smells delicious."

He bent down to pull the dish out of the warm oven, as Alexis retrieved three deep bowls and forks. Tag-team style, they filled each bowl in a flash.

"Trust me it is. But you have to move."

She perked up at the order.

"What?"

"We're not eating in here."

"Wha-"

Alexis took the opportunity to see the usually stalwart detective unsettled to interject. "Whenever Dad and I have a movie night we eat everything in the living room. It's kind of a tradition."

"Well who am I to question tradition." She laughed with Alexis as she took two of the bowls from the girl's hands. The two stepped out, leaving Rick behind, a loving grin on his face.

Minutes later he was seated cross-legged beside Kate and Alexis, who were both lying over pillows on their stomachs with their faces only inches away from being in the pasta. He originally thought that he'd be the one sandwiched in the middle, and disappointed, yet somewhat pleased, to find Alexis in the middle.

It warmed him to find the two of them giggling over who knows what when he walked out. They both turned their heads to him as he sat.

"Well?" Kate questioned, "Are you going to start the movie?"

"Oh, right! Yea!" He fiddled with a couple of buttons on the remote before the screen lit up with the opening scene of Star Trek. Rick watched Kate's eyes dart from Alexis, who was already engrossed in the movie, to him.

"Told ya' she was a Trekkie." He smirked.

"Oh, shut up Dad!" Alexis threw a pillow backwards, hitting him square in the jaw.

"You know if I had had food in my mouth that could've killed me." Her eyes never once broke away from the screen.

"Please, Castle. It's not unhealthy. Give her a break." Kate smiled as she forked a few noodles into her mouth. Alexis reached over to give her a high-five. Only mere sounds could escape Rick's mouth as the women laughed. "Now be quiet for once and enjoy the movie."

He sighed and rolled onto his stomach next to his daughter. After about an hour into the movie she buried herself underneath pillows and blankets in a makeshift fort – a process and feeling that he never quite understood. But he was thankful for it, as he was able to reach over and take Kate's hand, resting them joined on top of a pillow carefully balanced on Alexis' back.

The two shot playful glances at each other over her head, grinning and stifling giggles like a couple of teenagers.

As soon as the credits began to roll they all shifted. Stretching to their feet, hungry for some chocolate decadence.

"So Rick," Kate spoke through a mouthful of desert, "what can you possibly have against that movie?"

"Yes, Dad," Alexis questioned, placing her head in her open palms, "please explain to Kate why you hate Star Trek."

He sighed as he dropped his fork onto the plate. "I do not _hate_ it. I just don't like it when Hollywood feels the need to redo classics. I don't see the point. If it was good enough to become a classic the first time, why mess with it?"

Kate rolled her eyes at his response. As the three slowly picked apart half of the cheesecake they talked about nearly everything. Alexis told them about school, they talked about movies and books, but every time Alexis tried to ask about the case, Kate deflected.

She just didn't think the girl needed to hear about the murder of a college professor. All things considered, she had a feeling Rick was a little uncomfortable with the possibility of a student being a killer, too.

After Alexis had gone up to bed, Kate and Rick settled back down in the pillow pit with a glass of wine. He leaned up against the couch and pulled her into him, draping a fleece blanket over their legs.

"Watch it Rick, or I just might not make it home tonight."

"Selfish intentions Kate. What can I tell you?"

The loft was silent as the two sipped from their glasses. Rick had his left arm resting across her shoulders on the couch, and was tracing gentle circles on her upper arm.

"This was nice Rick. Really nice."

It was rare for her to just outright compliment him. Carefully, he leaned down and pressed a kiss just above her ear, letting his face linger just a little longer than necessary.

"I'm really glad you came. I love seeing you like this. Relaxed and happy. And Alexis really loves seeing you. She looks up to you."

"She's just grateful to me for saving your butt on a regular basis."

He groaned softly into her hair. "That too. And thank you for being okay with her."

She pulled away and turned around, a mildly confused look on her face. "Why wouldn't I be? She's a good kid. I have no idea how she ended up like that, growing up around you."

He took her empty glass from her hand and rose. "Neither do I," he whispered.

She was already taking her coat from the closet when he returned. Even reaching into a closet she was beautiful, he thought. He stood by her side as she buttoned up, guiding her with a hand at the small of her back when she was finished.

They reached the open door and stopped.

"I had a great time Rick."

"Me too."

Both of their voices had dramatically dropped in volume. Their eyes were focused together, their fingers gently intertwined, as they stood leaning on opposite sides of the doorframe.

"You're welcome here anytime you want Kate."

"I just might have to take you up on that offer."

He held her gaze as he leaned forward. His hands drifted, one resting on her waist, the other cupping her jaw. His touch was so gentle, she felt, almost as if he was afraid he would break her.

She closed the gap, wrapping her arms around his strong body. Kate thought it was such a shame for him to be wasting his looks behind a desk. Her head tilted up, meeting his lips with hers. For what seemed like hours, the two were lost in the taste of each other. Passion fueled them, the need for air finally forcing them apart.

"See you tomorrow?" Her eyes were still closed when she posed the question.

"Nothing could keep me away." He brushed her hair behind her ear, stepping back so that she could move.

They smiled as she moved out into the hall. Her hand trailing along his arm.

Rick leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest, the toe of his right foot crossed over the other. "Oh, and Kate?"

She turned around just as she stepped into the elevator. The lift of her eyebrows the only indication that she heard him.

"I like your hair."

He wasn't blind – he didn't miss the fingers that started twirling a piece of that silky hair as the doors shut.

* * *

**So no detecting for this chapter, but I think it was time for some good friend and family time. This is also the longest chapter so far in this story! Woo hoo! No promises as to when the next chapter will be up - I'm entering my last week of summer classes (Yay!).**

**I know it, you know it - I don't own it.**

**Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think! I learn from what you tell me! **

**Tappin.  
:-D **


	7. Chapter 6

With the push of a button Kate Beckett was off to start yet another week hunting down a killer. She leaned back into the wall as the elevator doors closed and closed her eyes. Her head was still in a haze from last night. It seemed so surreal, to enjoy herself so much when all they did was eat and watch a movie.

But then again, it was eating and watching a movie with the Castles. Somehow, they always managed to make her feel this way. And since she'd started thinking about Rick…that way, the feeling was stronger.

The second the doors opened up to her stop she snapped back into Detective Beckett. If everything went as she had hoped, there should be a potential suspect waiting for her. A part of her was hoping that the woman would be in a bad mood. Because she was in a good mood, and it was always fun to question angry suspects when you were in a good mood.

Sure enough, just as she was draping her coat across the back of her chair, she saw Detective Kevin Ryan escorting Rachel Mercer into a conference room. Kate decided to give the woman a few more minutes to simmer while she gathered her case notes and a fresh pen.

Taking a quick glance around the bullpen, she noticed that the object of her thoughts wasn't around. Odd.

She reached the door to the conference room only to find Ryan and Esposito quietly bickering with each other. The sight of her ceased all noise.

Esposito turned to her with a scowl on his face. "Beckett. Please tell Honeymilk here that I get to interrogate with you."

"Oh you do not! I haven't gotten into an interrogation in weeks!" The boys were doing their best whisper-yelling. Pointed fingers flew in each other's direction, annoyed looks shot back and forth.

Esposito opened his mouth to reply but a hand in his face stopped him.

"Look, the two of you can either settle this like mature adults or I'm just going to have to make the decision myself, and chances are neither of you would be going in."

"Let me take care of this one Beckett." The voice of Captain Montgomery cut through their conversation, causing all three Detectives' heads to roll. The Captain reached a hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a quarter. He carefully positioned the coin on the side of his index finger and thumb, and with one flick the disk was in the air.

"Esposito, call."

"Heads."

With a small thump the coin landed back in the Captain's open palm and was tossed over unto his forearm. Like the gentleman he was, Roy glanced at the coin before slipping it back into his pocket. He gave Beckett the 'go ahead' nod and began to step through the three.

"Ryan you're in."

"But sir," Esposito sputtered before he heard the door click behind him, and he saw Beckett and Ryan take their seats on the couch across from the victims wife.

This was just not his case, he sighed as he headed back to his desk.

Inside, Beckett and Ryan were looking at a very stone-faced Rachel Mercer. For a woman who just found out that her husband was just murdered she didn't seem too disturbed.

Rachel Mercer, Kate noticed right off the bat, was a woman who was sick of her life. She was wearing rather expensive clothes, but she didn't carry herself as if she cared. Her make up was way under par for a woman who was supposedly so amazing, and her hair, while a gorgeous shade of honey brown, was no further styled beyond a possible blow-drying after a morning shower. It was because of this vibe that she was all too possibly the killer.

"Mrs. Mercer, I assume you know why you're here." Ryan folded his hands as he spoke. From the corner of his eye he saw Beckett opening her notebook while she studied the woman's reaction.

"Of course," she spoke in a quiet, high-pitched squeak, almost child-like, "it's because someone murdered my husband. Detective, the second I heard about it I got right on a plane and came home."

"How long have you been planning this trip Mrs. Mercer?" Kate spoke up, pen ready to follow her hunch.

"About four months. It was a gift to myself."

"Any particular reason?" She leaned back in the seat, resting her left ankle across her right knee, balancing the notebook on top. "And going on the trip on your own?"

Both Detectives noticed the way the woman sighed before she leaned forward, resting her arms on her crossed legs. "Detective, I'm sure you've found out that my husband was having an affair." And there it was. "It's no secret. So when I found out about it, and believe me he was anything but discreet, I decided that if he was going to have a little fun, so was I. I started planning and extravagant Italian tour while he continued to sleep with a college girl."

She reached up to pull a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I was tired of being the 'perfect wife'. I never wanted to be, yet, somehow that's what I became."

"Mrs. Mercer," Kate started as she pulled out a photo of the high heels found underneath the armchair, "we found these in your husband's office the night he was murdered."

"And? Sure, they're my shoes. What do they have to do anything?"

"Where were you between seven and eight thirty last night Mrs. Mercer?" Ryan leaned over, lowering his voice just enough to implicate the importance of the question.

"Are you saying that I killed my husband?" She was starting to get panicky, Kate noticed. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. "I-I was at the airport after six. I didn't even see Richard get home from work."

"Then why did we find your shoes in his office?" Kate pushed back in, unnerving the woman; "He seemed to be pretty serious when it came to his work and his space. Why would a woman like you want to be around him when he was focused like that?"

"Detective, my husband was like that all the time. Not just when he was working. That's partly why I took this trip on my own. He wouldn't have wanted to be there, and I honestly don't think that if he were still alive that he'd miss me being gone. All he's done for the past few months is work and tote around that little tramp TA like she's a high-class puppy." With newly shaking hands, Rachel rubbed her closed eyelids. "My shoes were in his office because I was looking for something. I must have kicked them off and forgotten to take them with me when I left."

"What were you looking for?"

"I guess that morning his mother called. She wanted to see if I could find her lottery ticket for her. She said something about…giving it to Richard? For safekeeping or something? The woman hardly ever calls, and she's slightly senile, but I figured I'd humor her since I was leaving that night. She never said why it was so urgent that I go find it, and once I told her that I couldn't she hung up."

Ryan couldn't believe this. Castle was right; this case was a little bizarre. "That's it?"

"That's it. Now if you don't have anything else to ask me about, I'd like to see if I could catch a flight and resume my trip."

"Well, Mrs. Mercer," Kate couldn't get over this woman, and took the opportunity to interject, "I'm afraid that we're going to need you to stay in town until the case is closed. We may need to speak to you again, and I'm sure you don't want to bother flying all the way back should the need arise."

She blew out quite a large breath of air as she ran a hand through her hair. "Fine, whatever. I'll just move my trip around after all this is over with."

The two exited the room struggling not to mention the awkwardness of the ordeal. Rachel Mercer certainly wasn't crushed over her husband's murder, and neither could quite figure out why.

"Yo, Beckett!" She heard Esposito's trademark greeting as she pulled the door shut behind her, watching Rachel Mercer leave the precinct. "Castle's waiting for you in the break room."

She nodded to him, sitting back in his chair with his feet propped up on his desk.

"Ryan, see what you can dig up on the lottery ticket. There's a chance that she's just tossing out an excuse. And snag the check in information from the airport, I want to know when exactly she checked in." They split off in opposite directions, but Kate stopped short in her walk to the break room – to meet her…boyfriend.

"Hey Esposito?" She caught his nod as she peered around a pillar. "See if you can pull the mother and the brother's address for me. I want to talk to them again."

"What took you so long Castle?" She struggled to hold in her smile before she noticed that they were the only two in the room.

He turned from taking the mug of coffee he had prepared for her, handing it off. Sitting on the counter was one that he must have made for himself as soon as he got in. He took a sip as he rolled his eyes.

"Let me just say that you might have to arrest me for murder if Paula keeps scheduling early-morning meetings without telling me in advance."

She let herself laugh as she leaned against the counter behind him. "Now, now, let's not do anything drastic."

He chuckled back at her dry tone and bumped her with his hip, making her sway off balance.

"So what'd I miss this morning?"

"Ryan and I just finished up talking to the wife. She's quite the piece of work. Didn't seem to care much that her husband's dead, she was only worried about getting back to Italy."

"Are you kidding me?" He turned around, carefully slamming his mug on the counter. "I always miss the good stuff."

He was leaning both arms against the counter, tapping his fingers in upset. "Relax hot shot," she sauntered over to the door, "there will always be another interview."

Rick watched as she left. Even the way she walked was hypnotizing. Goodness, he thought, he was turning into one of those men who obsesses over a woman. Although, he had never had an obsession-worthy woman in his life before. He sort of liked this feeling. Besides, there were far worse things to be obsessed with, right?

After emptying what was left of the coffee in his mug Rick walked out to meet his favorite detective at her desk. But once he got there, prepared to sit and watch her to paperwork or work the murder board, she was standing pulling on her coat, listening to Esposito as he read from a small sheet of paper.

"Got the mother's address right here, but the brother's in class right now. High school teacher, remember?"

"Alright, we'll tag him at the end of the day. Castle and I'll head over to the mother's now. Maybe we'll actually get something useful from her this time around." She finished buttoning up the brown, faux suede coat she was wearing and picked up her bag, the post-it Esposito handed her perched on her index finger. Esposito bowed away, while Rick followed Kate to the exit.

"I take it you're not going to let me drive?"

"Not a chance Ricky."

"Just you wait, Detective. One day, I will get you in the passenger seat. Somehow."

"Yea, well, don't hold your breath. You can't afford to loose anymore brain cells." She grinned at him from over the top of her car.

"Is that supposed to be an insult or are you saying that my brain cells are valuable. Because I'm sure I have many fans who would agree-"

A smack on the side of his head ended his sentence for him.

Thirty minutes later they were pulling up to Carolynn Mercer's house on the skirts of the city. Here, there was a buffer zone between the busy city and the more country-like locations. The houses were a little farther apart than they were in the city, and had bigger yards. The ones here had little patches of grass and plots of colorful flowers. Rick was willing to bet that most of these people even did the tending themselves.

Kate reached up and rang the bell, which sounded as if there was a harp set up in the doorway. A red-eyed Carolynn opened the door, peering through a crack only a couple of inches wide.

"Mrs. Mercer, do you remember me? I'm the Detective on your son's case."

"Yes, yes," she sniffled, "I remember. The name not so much, but I remember your face. You have a very memorable face."

That she does, Rick thought.

"Please, come in." The two stepped over the threshold and into a small foyer covered in various pieces of art and photos. "I'm sorry if it's a mess, but I haven't felt up to do any straightening."

"That's perfectly understandable." Kate soothed as she walked with the elderly woman to the sitting area. It was in her nature to try and calm, and also what made her so good at her job. "Do you mind if I ask you just a few more questions? It shouldn't take long."

"No, no. Not at all. Why don't I get us some tea first? A nice girl like you deserves something warm to drink."

Kate decided not to tell the woman that she had already drunken three cups of coffee that morning. Her system thrived on caffeine anyway. Rick walked over and sat beside her just as she returned with three porcelain cups of tea.

"Mrs. Mercer this is Richard Castle. He's assisting with the investigation."

"Richard?" For a second a flash came over her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, I've heard of you. I don't read much anymore, but I believe one of my boys had mentioned you at some point."

Rick nodded as he sipped from the cup. It tasted like flowers. Hideously potent flowers. He never had been a tea-drinker, and had a feeling that Kate wasn't either, but when she took a drink, so did he. His mother had taught him to be polite, and he wasn't about to forget that now.

"Is there anything important you can remember about your son? Anything he might have said about someone he was angry with? His records administrator told us that there wasn't anything wrong at work, but maybe there was someone else? Maybe a friend?"

"Not at all Detective! Richard was wonderful. He loved his job, devoted nearly all of his time to teaching. Both of my boys are teachers, you know?"

"Yes. I know."

"Richard did anything I asked him to do. He was such a good boy. He took care of all my legal arrangements, and my medical bills, not that I have too many, but he always told me that I was better safe than sorry. I think it sometimes annoyed his wife how much time he spent helping me. But Rachel was a darling. She'd always be willing to help me out if he couldn't. The two of them were quite a pair."

"Mrs. Mercer, your son was having an affair with a student."

The woman's eyes grew wide in shock. In hindsight, Kate thought, she probably could've thought of a better way to phrase that. But it needed to be said.

"Nonsense! There is no way that my Richard would do something so deceitful. I'm sure you must be mistaken." Kate could tell that she really had known nothing about this, and decided not to press the issue further. There was no need to put the woman in any more pain – she'd probably close her mind off to the thought anyway.

Rick took the pause to put in his two cents. "What about your other son? Samuel?"

"Sammy? Well," Carolynn laughed a bit as she placed her cup and saucer on the coffee table, "Sammy was a sweetheart. When the boys were little he was such a good big brother. Always looked out for Richard, made sure he wasn't getting into trouble. But he wasn't as smart. No. Richie was always the one who did better in school, not that Sammy did poorly, he just didn't do as well."

She sighed as she adjusted her skirt. "Both of my boys took their father's death hard. It was unexpected after all. We found out right before Sammy's high school graduation that my husband had liver cancer. Everything went so fast. He was gone before Sammy got to college. But that's getting away from my point, I apologize."

"Don't Mrs. Mercer," Kate cut in, "just keep talking to me. It's okay."

"Well, Richard was always more respectable after that. He took the initiative to go to school and still help me out. After he got his job at the University he set up a more stable fund for my living, so that I didn't have to worry." She began to rub her hands over each other as she spoke. The distress of the conversation was beginning to take its toll on her nerves. "Richard was the perfect son. You know he even offered to hold my lottery ticket for me. He had said it was foolish of my to buy the damn thing, that he didn't want me to deal with the upset if I didn't win anything."

"Lottery ticket?" Rick furrowed his brow with his inquiry. He watched as the woman across from him laughed, fingering the rim of her cup.

"Yes, I'm afraid. I had bought a lottery ticket on a whim, and gave it to Richard to check for me. He said that he'd let me know how I did. But I had seen on the news the other day, before – before this - that no one had come forth with the winning ticket. I had asked Rachel to look for my ticket in Richard's office, but she said she couldn't find it."

Kate and Rick shared a glance before standing. "Thank you Mrs. Mercer. I'm sorry that we had to disturb you again."

Shakily, the woman rose to her feet, taking Kate's hands in hers. "Don't you worry about it, dear. Anything to help my poor Richie. I hope you find whoever did this soon."

Kate smiled at the woman, shook her hands. "I will Mrs. Mercer. We're getting really close."

"And you hang on to that one," she nodded towards Rick who was eyeing the many photos on her wall, "he looks like a good man."

"I-" Kate was completely out of her comfort zone. Usually Lanie was the one giving her relationship advice – not the mothers of her victims.

"He's got that look. Even when he's talking to me I can tell that he's thinking about you." The woman pushed Kate into Rick, then lead the two to the front door.

The two walked back down the short path to the car after Mrs. Mercer disappeared behind them.

"If you saw what I saw I bet I know what you're thinking."

"Oh really, Castle?" She lifted her eyebrow as she turned the key in its slot. "And what would that be?"

"Not so fast. I said 'I bet'. There's got to be something in this for me if I'm right."

"Seriously? You want to bet on a murder investigation?" She pulled out into the street and began to drive back towards the precinct.

"Wouldn't be the first time." He shifted in his seat so that he was facing her. He watched her focus diverge between the road ahead and his suggestion.

It was true. This was certainly not the first time he had 'bet' on her investigations.

"Well, what's the bet?" She pursed her lips together in anticipation. She could never quite figure out what he was going to say, which was one thing that she secretly loved about him. He was absolutely unconventional.

"If I'm right," he crossed his arms, "and I believe I am, you're going to let me take you out again. I decide where and when."

For a moment she chewed on her tongue, thinking of the possibilities. "Okay, Castle. You've got a bet."

"Yes!" He stepped out of the car with joy as soon as she pulled into the precinct lot. "Alright," he clapped his hands together on their walk into the building, "you saw all those pictures in her foyer? The one's of her 'perfect son' were hung higher up on the wall, and when she talked about him she mostly called him 'Richard', implying that she respects him more than 'Sammy'. And the lottery ticket? We've covered before that there are no coincidence in murder – that has to explain the ticket in his wallet, and why he was suddenly taking his mistress out of town."

"So what are you saying here?" She leaned over him as he spoke to press the button in the elevator.

"I think we need to talk to the brother."

She leaned back and looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Just tell me where and when."

"Really?" His face lit up in an instant. "You're serious?"

"Well, yea. I was thinking the exact same thing."

He grinned at her from across the elevator.

"But you know," she stepped into his chests, ran a hand up and down his arm, "you didn't have to make a bet with me."

"I didn't?" He questioned as he watched her face. It had softened considerably as she stroked the sleeve of his coat.

"No," she said as the doors opened up, "I would've said yes if you had just asked me." Before he could respond she exited the car, calling for Ryan and Esposito.

The doors began to close back on him as he stared, and he jumped out just in the nick of time.

* * *

**Yet another long chapter! Should be two more after this one. Yay! Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing! It's been interesting writing this. **

**Nothing new: I don't own it.**

**Hope you liked it! Let me know how you feel about it! You guys are awesome!**

**Tappin.**


	8. Chapter 7

Detectives Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito stood behind the two-way mirror between the interrogation and observation rooms. From where they were standing, they could see Samuel Mercer sitting across the table from Beckett and Castle. Their boss was reading him his rights, while Castle sat a little too close to her for their comfort.

"Watcha' think?"

"Castle and Beckett?" Ryan tipped his head to his partner without turning away from the scene on the other side of the wall. "Absolutely."

"I'll tell you what, it's about time."

"Damn straight."

They could hear through the mic that she had finished the standard Miranda reading and was beginning her small talk lead-in. The two of them always had admired her interrogation techniques.

"You think they're gonna tell us?" Ryan was the one to ask the question this time.

Esposito sucked air in through his teeth. "Couldn't say. With the two of them, I think we're lucky that they told each other."

They nodded their agreement and turned their attention back to the interrogation.

"Mr. Mercer, can you remind me as to where you were on the night of your brother's murder?"

Samuel Mercer sat straight, looking at Detective Beckett. From the corner of his eye he could see Richard Castle sitting next to her – but he didn't care. What could a novelist possibly do to him? His face was clear of expression as he looked through steel grey eyes.

"I told you the other day, Detective, I was at the musical at my high school."

"Right," she repeated, "at the musical." Kate Beckett was quite relaxed, almost lounging in her chair. "That's funny, because we talked to a couple of your students and their parents. They said that you were there for the first act, but you disappeared at intermission. And you came into the second act a few minutes late."

"I was, in the restroom."

Castle's interest was peaked with this one. "You were in the restroom for over twenty minutes?" He shot the man a puzzled look – just a sliver of a smile.

Mercer stared back with an irritated glimmer in his eyes. He was a fool to think that it would go unnoticed.

"Over twenty minutes Mr. Mercer," Kate was bent over the table now, focused and determined to get what she wanted, "that's plenty of time for you to go to your brother's house. Plenty of time for you to confront him."

Slowly but surely Samuel Mercer's face began to melt. His eyes lost the anger that Castle had instilled when she suggested such a thing. What did she know?

"That's ridiculous. My brother's house is nowhere near the high school."

The corner of Kate's mouth lifted as she laced her fingers together. "Nice try Sam, but we know the address. The high school is less than five minutes away from your brother's house." She let the reality set in, watching the man inspect the hem of his coat sleeve. "I think you went over there. You were angry and you wanted to have yourself a good fight."

"Where would you get an idea like that?" He was trying his best to maintain his composure. "What could I possibly be angry at Rick about?"

Kate's Rick jumped in at the available opening. "You were his big brother. The firstborn. Naturally you wanted to be the one to head the line. Make a name for your family. But your mother had different ideas."

"My mother was…attentive of him."

"A little too attentive, right?" Rick felt Kate push away from the table and start to pace. She was getting ready for the takedown when she did that. "So attentive that she trusted him more. She probably bragged about him to her tea group. Then put him in charge of her life."

"He had a gorgeous wife, and a gorgeous mistress to fawn over him. But he had to have her too." Samuel Mercer had begun to perspire. His eyes darted from point to point on the table, ignoring the double observation from the detective and the writer on top of him.

With a glance Kate silenced Castle. It was time for her to take over.

"You found out about the lottery ticket didn't you Sam? How your mother gave it to your brother for "safe-keeping"? I bet that made you pretty mad. You're the eldest son; she should be looking to you. But she didn't trust you enough."

Finally he had had it. Before he could stop himself he was yelling. "Did you know about his affair?" he screamed. At her slight nod he continued. "He was taking her away this weekend, for the week, or the month for all I know. He let that little piece of information slip at dinner last week. Thought he was pretty smug." He began to rub his arms, crossing his chest. "He was going to take her money. Her winnings, and take a child away. He was cheating on them. Cheating on Rachel! Cheating on our mother!"

When the tears began to streak down his face she sat back down across from him. Her face softened, she knew what there was left in this conversation.

"What happened Mr. Mercer?" Carefully she pulled closer to the table. She felt Castle shift beside her.

"I just wanted to talk. I – I went over during the intermission just to talk. To try to convince him that he was abusing his power. He took advantage of all the women in his life. All of them." He heaved out a breath, scrubbed his face with his hands. "When I got there, he was…he was sleeping at his desk. Everyone knew that he lived in his work – of course, when he wasn't playing around. Rachel said before that she would find him asleep like that in the mornings sometimes."

He lifted his hands to rest them on the table. They were shaking.

"And then I – I just saw it. Just sitting there. And I thought 'how hard would it be?' – I mean, he was already out like a light, all I had to do was just…make it permanent. There was already some student or other pissing him off, threats or something like that? And he was having an affair, so I imagine that Rachel's pretty ticked. So, I…I picked up the lamp and just, remembered what they taught me in little league." Again Mercer paused to take in air, let it out slowly. "I loved my brother. But I wanted to make everything better."

* * *

Rick watched with a heavy heart as Samuel Mercer was escorted from the interrogation room. It was rather sad, he thought. The man had spent his entire life in the shadow of his little brother. He was trying to be responsible, trying to protect his mother. He loved her so much, but unfortunately, the sentiment wasn't quite returned.

At the moment he was experiencing a rather strong sense of déjà vu. He should be used to this by now, but he wasn't. She was just so damn interesting. Everything about her. He absolutely loved watching her do paperwork.

"Castle?"

"Yea?" He had his hand covering half of his mouth, muffling his voice.

"Thinking about anything in particular?" She kept busy with her report as she spoke. She knew that the second she looked at him she'd be distracted for quite some time.

He leaned in the chair, tilting his head back, folded his hands atop his knee. "Aside from you? Not much."

Kate glances up to see him staring off into space. Before he could notice she had averted her eyes back to her desk.

"I was just thinking about his situation. I couldn't imagine killing my brother. Although, then again, I couldn't imagine having a brother. So I guess that's irrelevant. But I can't help feeling sorry for him"

"I know what you mean. I didn't have any siblings, but I have a lot of cousins. Most of them are older than me, and most of them are guys, but still. We had a lot of fun." She took a break from her work and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. The two of them were staring off in their own trances as the talked.

"Is it horrible to say that I think it's the mother's fault?" He asked. "Because I think it's the mother's fault. If she hadn't played favorites he wouldn't have been so compelled to get so upset over a lottery ticket."

"Maybe so," now she looked right as him as she spoke, toying with the pen in her hands, "but we can't know that now can we?" He tilted his head in agreement. "The ironic thing is that the lottery ticket only actually won him twenty-five bucks. And we don't even know if Richard Mercer knew that before he died."

"Guess he just let years of jealousy and anger corrupt him."

"Well, Castle," she sighed, "what are you gonna do?"

For the next few moments they sat in silence as Kate finished her paperwork. Rick contemplated asking her if she wanted to go grab a bite to eat somewhere, but he knew her too well. She'd want to go home when they were done to unwind. He'd have her all to himself soon enough. He did win the bet.

"Hey you guys done? Ryan and I were gonna go for a beer."

Kate looked down at her desk. There were only a couple more pages to deal with – she could do it in the morning. "Uh." She met eyes with Castle before answering. "Sure. Why don't we grab Lanie and the Captain too?"

"Sounds good. Meet you guys there?"

"Yeah."

They waited to move until after Ryan and Esposito had split to collect their company. Rick smiled as subtly as he could as they stepped into the elevator. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so, but I'm not betting on it this time."

He refrained from making a sarcastic comment. "Are we going to tell them?"

"If it comes up, Castle," she said as she stepped out into the parking garage, "if it comes up."

* * *

All six of them were seated in and around a booth in a bar down the street from the precinct. It was quite the police hang out. Kate could hardly remember a day when she would come in and not see someone she recognized.

Now, she was looking at the bunch surrounding her. She was seated in between Rick and Lanie – Esposito and Ryan on the other side of her, and the Captain next to Rick. For the past hour they had laughed non-stop. It felt good.

Esposito was just finishing up complaining about his week when the waitress arrived with their second round of drinks. Underneath the table she felt Rick's hand come to rest on her knee. She slid hers down, lacing her fingers over-top of his. A silent cue.

"So aside from the murder, how was everyone's weekend?" Castle asked as he took a sip from his fresh bottle of beer.

"Spent my time with the living helping my wife shop for new kitchen appliances," Montgomery said with a sigh and a nod. "Remodeling our kitchen for her early Christmas gift."

"Sir," Ryan piped in, "It's June."

"Said early didn't I?" He lifted his own bottle as they let out a laugh. When he was in a good mood, and out in the real world, their boss could be a lot of fun. "And what about you, Ryan? Anything wild and crazy?"

He rolled his eyes as he carefully spun his bottle on the table. "Spent some quality time with Jenny…when this one" he thumbed over to his partner, "didn't have me playing Madden."

"Oh because I just had to break your arm to get you to agree?" The sarcasm just dripped from his voice. Lanie and Kate nudged each other. They could never quite get over how childish and entertaining the boys could be.

"And what about you Doctor?" Rick peered across Kate to look at her. She looked back at him with an all too knowing look in her eyes.

"Nothing exciting here Castle. Read some magazines, watched some television. Just sat around waiting for news."

"What about you Beckett?" This time the question came from Esposito across the table. He and Ryan had both put down their beers and leaned back in their chairs. The Captain took one long sip as he waited for a response.

Slowly, Kate looked up at the man sitting on her left. Her hand was still on his beneath the table. "I, uh…went on a date, actually."

"Oh really?" Ryan's eyebrow twitched in her direction.

"Yea Beckett," Esposito grinned, "who's the lucky guy?"

"Eh," she shrugged, "no one special." She reached out with her free hand to grip her drink while using her hidden one to give Rick's a small squeeze. Another silent cue.

"Detective!" He shot back from her, nearly bumping into Montgomery. "I'm insulted."

She giggled as he tightened his hold on her hand. In a matter of seconds he had regained his seating, with her closing the gap, pulling their joined hands to the top of the table.

The were so lost in each other that the barely even noticed the lack of comments from around the table.

"Why so serious boys?" She asked her team, "You don't have anything to say? I'm disappointed in you."

"Why?" Esposito shrugged. "It's not like it's news."

Kate looked at their faces, and that of her Captain, who simply tilted his glass to her before taking a sip. Oddly, it made her smile.

"Stop looking at me like that Castle," Lanie's voice boomed across her line of focus, "I already knew."

"You told her!" Kate tightened at Rick's exclamation.

"What did you expect? She's my best friend!" The two women struggled not to laugh. "Besides," she fingered the rim of her glass, "she guessed anyway."

"And what about you two?" He pointed between Ryan and Esposito. "What's you're excuse?"

"You know," Ryan said as he stretched back in his chair, "the two of you think you're careful. But you're not."

"Trained detectives, Castle." Esposito nodded. "We notice everything."

"Yea, and we learned from the best, right Beckett?"

She smirked, balling up a napkin and chucking it across the table. To further prove his point, she hit him square in the center of his forehead.

"Man," the Captain laughed, "I really need to get you all on television. Now that would be entertaining."

Kate moved closer into Rick's side, far more comfortable now than she was when they first arrived. In a twisted way, she was nervous of what everyone would say. Aside from her father, these guys were her family. Their opinion really mattered to her.

"To friends" Rick said raising his glass.

She smiled as she leaned forward. "And family!"

For the rest of the night the bunch talked and laughed. Sharing stories and cracking jokes. Picking on each other just like they did every day. The time and place never seemed to matter to any of them.

And as often as they had all come into this bar, they had never had such a good time.

* * *

**Almost there! Only one chapter to go! Hope you liked this one! Please let me know what you think of it! I'm starting to work on plans for another piece, and a 10 song piece for my tenth Castle fic. **

**We all know I don't own it. **

**Thanks for reading! You're awesome!**

**Tappin.**

**A quick question from the author - if i started a "Castle prompts" fic, would you guys send me ideas? I know it's been done before, but I think it would be fun. What do you think? If you already have any ideas, just send me a PM. ****Thanks!**


	9. Epilogue

Rick Castle rocked on his heels as he stood on the sidewalk in front of Kate's building. Tonight had been a long time coming. They had finally closed the Mercer case, and were officially out-ed as a couple. Not that that made much of a difference among their friends.

When he called to tell her he had arrived, she told him to wait. He hated when she told him to wait. It made his nerves jump around even more than they already did when he thought of her. His fingers skittered along the insides of his pockets, fighting the urge to call her. Or leave the limo driver and run up to get her himself.

But she had asked him to wait. So wait, he would.

He was staring down at his shoes when the doors to her building opened up. He saw the beam of light flood from the door, but didn't look up. So many people had already come out from it that it lost his attention. That is, until the silhouette of a woman stretched across the cement

"So, I'm supposed to have a date tonight, but I can't seem to find him. Do you think you could help me?"

The second she spoke he snapped to her. She was positively gorgeous. Standing before him in an emerald green strapless dress. It hugged all the right places, draping down in flowing panels of vibrant color. He'd have said that she took his breath away, standing before him, made-up and dressed for their date, but she always took his breath away.

"I think I could find the time." He stepped over to her, guiding her to the limo. "Maybe if we drive around a little we can find him."

"Why don't I just go out with you instead? You're already dressed."

He lifted her hand to kiss her knuckles. "I think that sounds like a marvelous idea." Laughing, the two slid into the plush leather of the limo. Rick signaled the driver to get going.

"So are you going to tell me where you're taking me?"

"Nope." He pulled his lips tight at her scowl.

"Why not?" Kate found herself so close to whining she was almost ashamed. She had been bugging him for three days straight – since the minute they left the bar with their friends – where they were going.

"You agreed that I got to pick the when and where. So I did. There was no agreement that I had to tell you."

She rolled her eyes and pushed away from him.

"Are you going to be mad at me now?"

Huffing, she folded her arms across her chest. "You'll just start pouting if I say yes, and the pouting will only further irritate me. So no. I'm not going to me bad at you."

"Good," he said, "because we're here."

"Already?" She backed her face away, a puzzled look on it.

"Mhmm." Rick reached over and unlatched the door, pulling her out with him. He smiled, trying his best to keep his teeth hidden.

As she stepped out Kate looked up, finding herself standing in front of Rockefeller Center.

"What are we doing here?"

He linked their arms together as they started walking. "Going on a date."

"Well aren't you just Mister Cryptic?"

"Cryptic isn't exactly the word I would use."

"Oh, really?" The elevator was steadily climbing up to the sixty-sixth floor of the building. They could feel their ears pop as they ascended. Kate couldn't decide if that or her date was more annoying.

They stepped off, and walked around to the second car. This one would take them the rest of the way to the sixty-ninth floor and the observation deck.

"Then what word would you use?" Her tone just dripped with annoyance.

The elevator doors opened up a second time, the cooler air rushing into their faces. Rick was the first to move, blocking the doors with his body.

Kate looked out to the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. There was a single table set in the middle of the deck. A pair of gilded candlesticks stood lit in the center, a soft glow brushed over the place settings. Surrounding the table were countless candles, only accompanied by a few arrangements of pink roses. In the night, coupled with the presence of the flames, they appeared a muted golden-orange. Below, the lights of the city she loved sparkled.

"I was thinking more…romantic?"

The only sound to come out of Kate's mouth was a stunted 'I'.

"Don't say anything, just come sit." He reached around her, guiding her by her elbows to the table.

She turned her head, but he was gone.

"Rick?"

"Right here." He rounded the corner of the center tower with two glasses of champagne. Gently, he placed them on the table, and retreated back. A few moments later he returned. This time holding two full plates.

"Chicken Marsala. I know it's one of your favorites."

She smiled, thinking of how cute it was that he remembered. She, herself, didn't even remember when she told him.

"Thanks," her voice was almost a whisper, "it looks amazing."

"So do you."

Thankfully the dim lighting hid the blush that rose in her cheeks. "You clean up pretty nice yourself."

He grinned, toasting her glass. He felt like he was on top of the world with the most perfect date. Considering that they were dining on the sixty-ninth floor of Rockefeller center, that wasn't such an exaggeration.

During their meal Kate and Rick fell into their rhythm. They talked about their friends, mostly how annoying they've been since they told them about their relationship. Ryan and Esposito basically did nothing but stare at them all day now, while the Captain continued to give them that 'I'm watching you two' nod every time he passed her desk.

Lanie, of course, did nothing but pester Kate for details, of which there were none. At least, not yet. Kate let herself laugh a little into her glass, thinking of her best friend's irritation. Lanie asked her every chance she got about her and Rick.

"What's so funny over there?" He laughed at her laughing from across the table.

"Nothing. Just…thinking." Not once did she look away from her plate, he noticed. And Rick always noticed. He loved watching her. It didn't matter what she was doing. Paperwork, driving, eating. She could be gutting a fish – one of his least favorite meals – and he would still watch her.

Rick cleared their plates once they had finished eating, and brought out the desert. Double chocolate fudge cake with cool vanilla ice cream.

"Ooh. Chocolate and ice cream Rick? If I didn't know any better I'd think you're trying to win me over."

"Well think no better Detective."

She bit her lip through a grin. He had thought of everything, and made this one of the most incredible nights of her life. Kate could feel herself falling for Richard Castle. And it felt like it would be a fall from sixty-nine stories. But, maybe, just maybe, she'd jump.

When Kate looked up from her heaping spoonful of chocolate Rick was staring…again. But he wasn't staring at her now. He was gazing out over the skyline. Her first thought was what he could possibly be thinking about, but in review, that could open up a whole can of worms.

"You're not bored with me already are you?"

"With you," he asked as he took her hand in his, "you'd have to shoot me before that could happen." They grinned like children as they stood from their chairs and began to walk around the deck.

"Well, neither sounds like a very good option to me," she commented as she leaned on a pair of binoculars, him stepping to the opposite side. She shot him a sidelong glance as she leaned on the metal.

"Then why don't I just say… 'Absolutely not. You are far to extraordinary to be bored with.'?"

Kate giggled, gave him a playful shove from over the binoculars. "It is so obvious that you're a writer."

"Ah, but you love me anyway."

In an instant his eyes captured hers, and everything else went away. The sounds of the bustling city were silenced. The conversation they had had only minutes ago, now a vague memory.

All Kate could think about was what he had just said. Her arms went slack at her sides, her head swimming.

Before she knew what she was doing her hand was resting on the side of his face, her thumb was gently caressing his cheek. With the tips of her fingers she pulled him closer. Her lips feathered over his, tender, and almost…nervous. As if she was scared, she pulled back and looked into his eyes. Really looked into them. No one had ever looked at her the way that he did.

"I do."

"Wh-what?" Rick stayed where he was, gripping the sides of the binoculars. He was afraid that if he let go, even a little bit, that he'd fall over.

"I love you."

As fast as his now limp arms would move, he reached up, cupping her face in his hands. This time, there was no fear. He dove to her with all the fire and passion he had, to which she gladly returned. Without breaking apart they moved, Kate now leaning against the wall of glass, her hands wrapped around his neck, his fisted in her hair.

When air finally became necessary, they peeled apart. Rick leaning his forehead against hers. Both of them smiling.

Through a shallow breath she heard him. "I love you too."

Kate pursed her lips together as she fingered the edges of his collar. Her smile was still poking through.

"I think we should finish our desert."

He leaned in, again catching her mouth with his. "I'd much rather enjoy you."

Kate couldn't help but laugh before she was caught in another kiss. "Good, because I wasn't planning on letting you go."

She tightened her hold on his neck, pulling him close. They were lucky for the glass paneling. Otherwise they'd be careening down towards the Rockefeller Center Ice Rink, still locked in each other's arms.

* * *

**Phew. I really hope you liked it! I think this might be one of my favorite chapters that I've ever written. I'm working on plans for a third piece, so keep your eyes peeled, and I'm gonna start working on a ten song piece as my tenth Castle fic. Should be fun!**

**ABC and Mr. Marlowe started it - I'm just borrowing.**

**Thank you so, so much for reading this. You guys are amazing! Please let me know what you think! **

**Love, Tappin.  
:-D **


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